WriteSeniors.com
Title
Write a Senior Citizen
Description
We are John Thomas, age 18, and Kelly Thomas, age 21. We are from California, and Kelly attends a small college in the northeast, and John attends a university in Texas. We started this web site in 1999 as a community outreach program with only 5 members. It has since grown to become the largest senior citizen pen pal site of its kind on the internet with over 3,000 members.
For several years, we have been entertaining at various retirement homes because we felt that the residents there would enjoy seeing some new, young faces and hearing our piano music. The Senior Citizens love our visits and, often, many of them become very involved in the music by clapping and singing along. It quickly became obvious to us that a good number of these elderly people are extremely lonely. Many have no relatives in the vicinity. When we visit, they don’t want us to leave. They hug us, hold our hands and chat with us for as long as we can stay. Many of these residents seem invigorated by our visits. If nothing else, we believe our piano playing breaks the monotony of their daily routines.
Very saddened by their situations, we decided to do something to try to bring further enjoyment into the lives of these Senior Citizens. After brainstorming, we came up with a few ideas of how we might be able to bring greater diversion to these people. Along with our piano visits, we have created two programs. First, in 1999, we designed this “ Write a Senior Citizen” program in which people can email any of the listed Seniors. We realized that there must be thousands of other Seniors in situations similar to our retirement home friends who would enjoy being contacted and forming pen pal relationships. With this website, we can reach shut-ins or any Senior who would appreciate hearing from a pen pal.
